Bursitis

My sister finally convinced me to go to physio to see what the problem is with my poor left leg. I felt a bit foolish doing so. The pain in my left leg is not consistent to one spot, nor is it consistent in when in will show up in the run...if it shows up at all!
But I decided it couldn't hurt anything to go, so today I went back to the same physio who miraculously fixed my right knee; now I had him look at my left knee. I thought he would simply confirm my self-diagnosis and say "tight muscles. Just keep stretching it." Then send me on my merry way.
The actual diagnosis should come as no shock to those who read the title of this blog: bursitis of the left knee.
The cause: running with tight muscles (it always comes back to my tight muscles!)
The treatment: rest.
I've been told bursitis can take just a couple weeks to heal...for those who have only had it for a couple of weeks. Since I've had it for the past few months, the cure may likewise take longer. BUT on the plus side, I now know that all the active massaging and "digging in" to the muscle I've been doing to try and "work out the knot" is actually making it worse. Now it's all about resting and icing; icing and resting.
In the long term, I know I'll be happy to get this cured. In the short-term, I'm bummed to take a few weeks off. This is going to really slow down my momentum.

Just When

Just when I thought my injuries were behind me…

Just when I was feeling fit and fast…

Just when I felt like things were on the upswing…

The tempo run was all-round bad. It started when I found out we were doing 8k***. 8k! I had misread it as 5k, and mentally had prepared myself for that distance. Only to find out I was going almost double that. And to make matters worse (for me), I had forgotten my trusty watch, meaning that I wouldn’t know my pace or the distance left to run. And for some crazy reason, the group decided to do a hillier course this time. Ugh.

The evening was hot and windless. We started out as a group of 4. One of the runners I hadn’t seen in a while, and I was happy to catch up with her as we chatted along (we talked about scuba diving and paddle boarding, both awesome sports!). But at the 2k mark, things started to go wrong. I was hot and tired. My legs felt weak, and I started to get a sharp pain along my shin. I slowed down my pace a bit, running with one of the guys who was planning to take it easier.

The only good thing I can say about the run is that it had lights and a few closed trails/detours, meaning that we took impromptu breaks along the way to figure out our route or wait for traffic.

The first 4k were mostly uphill. When we got to the halfway mark, two of the faster and stronger runners (I used to be right with them), kept going, while the other guy and I turned back. I was suffering! My shin hurt, my calves hurt, my body felt exhausted, and I was overheated.

I never bring water for less than 12k, and I’ve never had strong reason to feel that this is a bad idea. Usually, I find hydrating before and after the run is enough. But when my running buddy cracked out his water a couple of times to take a drink, it looked like liquid gold. The brief thought of stealing his water flashed through my mind more than once, but I held strong. I did talk to him about my goal of doing my first marathon next year, and he was slightly horrified with me. I think he felt I was out of my depth, jumping from a 10k to a marathon. And maybe I am. But I have a full year to figure it out!

We finished with a total distance of 8.08km in 55 minutes – including the stops along the way.

I chose to forego a proper cool down in favour of guzzling some cold water. I couldn’t seem to get enough of it! I did do some gentle stretching, but not enough. When I got home I was a wreck. Thirsty, a little nauseated (?from chugging water or overheating or not cooling down properly…pick one), and could barely walk because my legs were so sore!

Not my finest hour. Running can do that to you. On a good day, you have every confidence and happiness in the world. On a bad day, it’s all you can do to hold your head up and put one foot in front of the other. While I prefer the good days, I know it can be the bad days that force you to rely on the mental strength rather than the physical strength.

***Despite the fact this is being posted right after the other 8k tempo, please note that these runs are, in fact, almost 1 week apart!

Faster Runs with Slower Walks

8k tempo! Oh, boy!

We kept in a tight group for the first part. One thing I'm very grateful for is that - despite the small numbers in the 10k clinic - a lot of runners are at my pace or faster, which allows me to push myself.
The route we took was, ironically, one of the first routes we did for our 8k long slow distance! Now we were doing the same distance, but at a "push" pace instead of a "gentle" pace.

There were four of us running and we had some of what I call "natural jostling" along the trails for the first 4k. By natural jostling, I mean that at times some runners would pick up and take the lead and other runners would fall back, then at another time that runner in the back would pick up and run harder, etc. Not competitive jockeying for position, just naturally shuffling around in the pack depending on how you felt.

By the second 4k though, the group had spread out. There were two much faster runners. On another day, I think I could have held my own with them. But the day after 6 hill repeats (6 hill repeats!) I was a little fatigued and it was all I could do to hold the pace. So off they went to pick up the pace at the end, and I just focused on maintaining a strong finish.

But I admit, I did have a little competitiveness in me (I was running with all guys, after all!), so when everyone pulled in at the finish line of 7.7km, I kept going to make it a round 8k.

Interestingly, running with the group and running by feel on tired legs made for some inconsistent km markers, which I only noticed after I finished. The breakdowns by km was as follows:

5:57 / 6:22 / 5:56 / 6:21 / 5:46 / 6:30 / 5:46 / 6:44

Now, to be fair, I never stopped my watch for our 10:1 walk breaks, so that would also affect the speed of each km marker as well, but if you look at it overall, the kms without the walk breaks got consistently faster, while the kms with the walk breaks got consistently slower. Hmmm.

Total time: 49:28min
Total pace: 6:11min/km

When Differences of Opinion Collide: “Let’s Slow Down”

5k tempo. Because I’d skipped the hill session of the previous day, I had a lot of energy AND I had no pain in my legs, so I was ready to push.

It started off slow and easy…around a 6min pace. By the second km we had picked it up to a 5.45 pace, and I was still feeling strong and fit. There were six of us running; four in the front group and two in the back group. One of the other runners in the front group slowed down off the pace and dropped back towards the back group. Not long after, another suggested that we should “slow down to run with the others”. This is where I inwardly balked. On long slow run days, I have no problems going a bit slower to keep people running together. If there was a newbie to the group who didn’t know the trail and was in the back by themselves, of course I fully agree that at least one person should slow down to make sure they don’t run alone. But I disagree with the principle of running slower on a tempo day solely to keep the group together. Sure, there are days when I’m not feeling it and am happy to ease off the pace. Sure, I love the social aspect of running and love talking with my fellow runners. But I’m also running for me, and there are times I need to be selfish. As I promise my running friends during a race; “let’s start together, and then I’ll see you at the finish line!” Because at the end of the day, running is an individual endeavor.

So I didn’t slow down; me and one other person kept our pace up, and even picked up the pace to go faster. By the end of the 5k we were running around a 5.20 pace and I wasn’t sure who was pushing whom. How refreshing and exciting to see improvement! I remember one of my first tempos of the season when I couldn’t even hold a 5.45 pace. We finished the 5k in just over 30 minutes, which included our 2 walk breaks, then jogged back to the group to cheer them in. Honestly, they weren’t far behind. Hard to believe this 10k clinic is almost over!

Up, Down, Repeat

I love hills. Say what you will, but I LOVE hills. Last week we had 6 repeats. It was the same hill that we had done before, and this time I even bothered to measure it...320m of twisting, winding, changing slopes.
I decided not to make the same mistake as last time by starting out too fast. My goal was simple: do the first hill relatively "easy" and then keep the same pace or get faster afterwards.
Rep 1: 2:20 (which is much slower than my last hill session when I tried to keep everything under 2:00min...)
Rep 2: 2:15
Rep 3: 2:05
Rep 4: 2:10
Rep 5: 2:15
Rep 6: 2:12

I'm happy to say that my first hill was the slowest, so I know if I go again I can push that little bit harder.

One thing I love about hills is the camaraderie. Because you're only ever 320m away from the first person or the last person, and with 6 repeats that's 6x you get to cheer on your fellow runners.
Six of us started out, but a couple of gals left a bit early so the rest of us keeners stayed to the end...exhausted, but satisfied.

All smiles after hills!